Twitter has started removing blue checkmarks from legacy accounts, including those of high-profile figures like Beyonce and Pope Francis. This move had been threatened by Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, who has been struggling to make the platform profitable since purchasing it for $44bn in 2022.
Musk had been warning users for months that he would remove “legacy blue checks.” On April 12, he tweeted that all users who had not paid for verification would lose their verified badges starting April 20. He also tweeted and deleted a message indicating that legacy verified accounts would have a few weeks’ grace, but only if they indicated they would pay.
Tomorrow is shaping up to be quite the day!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Blue Checkmark Previously Denoted Verified Accounts
The blue checkmark on Twitter previously denoted accounts that had been verified for authenticity. This mark was given to accounts of celebrities, journalists, and media outlets.
However, it appears that Twitter is now using a subscription service called Twitter Blue to verify accounts. Twitter recently rolled out ‘Verified Organizations’ globally
Twitter Affiliate verified accounts
Twitter’s Verified Organizations that enables businesses, non-profits, and government entities to obtain verified accounts. Verified Organizations will assign a gold checkmark and square avatar to businesses and non-profits, and a grey checkmark and circular avatar to governmental and multilateral organizations upon purchasing a subscription.
These organizations can also affiliate with any person or entity, such as their leadership, brands, support channels, personnel, and teams. This affiliation comes with a verification badge represented by blue, gold, or grey checkmarks, and an affiliate badge that displays the parent company’s profile picture next to the checkmark.
It’s worth mentioning that there is no restriction on the number of affiliates an organization can have, as long as they are connected. Verified Organizations allows all verified and authorized government organizations and individuals to receive a grey checkmark and affiliate badge upon subscription.
Furthermore, Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation, and Carl Pei, Twitter CEO of nothing, are among the individuals who have been verified and affiliated through this process.
Notable Individuals Lose Blue Tick Status
Several notable individuals, including celebrities and sportspeople, have lost their blue tick status, including Pope Francis, actors Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, cricketers Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, and comedian Ricky Gervais.
However, LeBron James, who initially opposed paying for verification, still has a blue tick on his handle.
Verified Twitter accounts now show a new message indicating that the user is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and have verified their phone number. This change appears to be part of Twitter’s move away from legacy blue checkmarks.
Twitter Blue Subscription Service Pricing
- The subscription service now offers new features like prioritized conversation rankings, longer videos, and bold/italic text options. Existing Blue features like Edit Tweet and Bookmark Folders will continue to be available.
- Users can now create 10,000 character tweets, edit them up to 5 times within 30 minutes, and set their profile picture to an NFT they own. This subscription was once available in 50 countries, but is now open to users worldwide.
Twitter Blue service is available worldwide at US$8 a month when signing up via a web browser. However, users will have to pay US$11 via in-app payment if using Twitter on iOS or Android.
In India, Twitter Blue costs Rs. 900/month on iOS and Android platforms, and Rs. 650 on the web client. Twitter also provides a discounted annual plan of Rs. 6,800, which amounts to roughly Rs. 566/month, representing a 12% discount. You can sign up for Twitter Blue from here.